The Lottery Blood Sacrifice - 916 Words

Blood Sacrifice Could you take a hand in killing someone from your community, a neighbor, a friend? What if it was part of a sacred rite? What if it was for some greater good? This is precisely the moral dilemma posed by author Shirley Jackson in her famous short story, â€Å"The Lottery.† In the story, a village is required to cull one of its members. In a yearly tradition, everyone gathers to select one person by way of random lottery, and then they stone them to death. As barbaric as the sacrifice is, everyone seems to go through the ritual with an air of resolved finality. â€Å"The Lottery† examines the idea of what is required of a person in society, what that society considers to be good, and where the line between the two should be drawn.†¦show more content†¦This is where the line between what is good and what is required lies: in following the traditions and the ritual of the village, and doing so with reverence and dignity. The locals can take the li fe of their neighbor because they understand that it is part of who they are. They also know that it fulfills some need, some greater good, though they may not all remember exactly what that greater good is. This story may seem cold, barbaric, and cruel, but it is in painting this bleak picture of society that Shirley Jackson succeeds in turning the lens back around onto the reader. Jackson makes us reflect on our own lives, on our own society, and on the barbarism that exists there. In reading â€Å"The Lottery† we are, on some inherent level, forced to consider the â€Å"blood sacrifices† of our own culture, which we ourselves may gloss over every day or every year. It is only by confronting the dark rituals in our lives that we are able to distinguish where the line between what we feel is good and what we feel is required falls for us. But once we have done this, maybe we can start to change things, and end the bloodshed. Jackson, Shirley. The Lottery. New Yorker 26 June. 1948: 25-28. Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 MayShow MoreRelatedSymbolism in the Lottery1391 Words   |  6 PagesShirley Jackson#8217;s, #8220;The Lottery#8221;, clearly expresses her feelings concerning traditional rituals through her story. It opens the eyes of readers to properly classify and question some of today#8217;s traditions as cruel, and allows room to foretell the outcome of these unusual traditions. #8220;The Lottery#8221; is a short story that records the annual sacrifice ceremony of a fictional small town. It is a detailed narrative of the selection of the person to be sacrificed, aRead MoreSymbolism In The Lottery, By Shirley Jackson869 Words   |  4 PagesSymbolism is used throughout The Lottery in the character names. Author, Shirley Jackson, uses the name of, Mr. Graves, to foreshadow the story and explain what â€Å"The Lottery† really is. 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